FDA Calls Elderberry Wine an Unapproved “Drug”

FDA Calls Elderberry Wine an Unapproved "Drug"
Posted by Karen De Coster on June 5, 2011 05:35 AM

If you have never had elderberry wine (especially homemade), you have not had one of life's great tasting pleasures. Elderberry wine is popular with self-sufficient folks because it has a long history of being used for medicinal purposes. They use the wine in place of the numerous, expensive, and useless "remedies" sold to consumers on drugstore shelves. I have friends in Tennessee that pick the elderberries on their property and make gorgeous wine from the freshly-picked berries. As to the wine, the FDA wins another "you can always count on the government to protect you" award. Here's a snippet from an article on KansasCity.com.

Federal authorities have seized bottles and drums of elderberry juice concentrate from a Kansas winery, contending that the company's claims of its benefits for treating various diseases make the product a drug.

…"Products with unapproved disease claims are dangerous because they may cause consumers to delay or avoid legitimate treatments, Dara Corrigan, the FDA's associate commissioner for regulatory affairs, said in a news release. "The FDA is committed to protecting consumers from unapproved products on the market."

The story says that Wyldewood Cellars owner John Brewer, who had been threatened and bullied by the FDA starting in 2006, had the wine labels changed, as originally ordered by the FDA, so that the labels did not reflect any health benefits. Yet U.S. Marshalls seized products from the winery because they discovered during "subsequent inspections that the company continues to make such claims." So it is not clear exactly what has transpired here, except that the government has once again gone to war against a little guy while they continue to make deals with Big Food producers to ignore the lies contained within their advertising because their claims conform to the tenets of sanctioned, conventional wisdom.

The FDA has no problems with its favored food giants such as General Mills claiming that their sugar products – masquerading as a breakfast food (Cheerios) – "lower your cholesterol." And sugar in a cup – sold by Dannon as "yogurt" (which it is not) - can be sold as a product that is good for your immune system.

But remember – the FDA has been communicating that it will start grading food claims so that the Stupidus Americanus consumers will be provided "with information in a recognizable way so that they are informed about what it is they are buying." This incredible dumbing-down approach caters to the short-attention-span, sound-bite imbecile:

Under the new plan, an "A" grade will be assigned to claims supported by many well-designed studies. For instance, if a food high in fiber boasts the ability to one's reduce risk of colon cancer, the claim will be given an "A" since the link between fiber and gastrointestinal cancers has been well established by scientific research.

Health claims with "good" but not entirely "conclusive" supporting evidence will be assigned a "B" designation. Label statements made with little or no conclusive evidence to back them up will fall into "C" and "D" categories.

Essentially, the government will give out "health claim report cards," and those companies that conform to conventional wisdom as determined by the medical-pharmaceutical-congressional complex will get big fat A grades, and any claims that go against the grain of the established dogma will be sure to garner poor grades that persuade consumers that the product is not worthy because it doesn't have the establishment's seal of approval. And when a product has no value whatsoever to the establishment, such as elderberry wine, the government will just seize the product (is that like getting an "F"?) – essentially kicking it out of school without a hearing.